Jekyll2018-02-21T13:17:34+00:00https://shaun.net/shaun.netWrite an awesome description for your new site here. You can edit this line in _config.yml. It will appear in your document head meta (for Google search results) and in your feed.xml site description.Test phone numbers for Australia2018-02-21T00:00:00+00:002018-02-21T00:00:00+00:00https://shaun.net/australian-test-phone-numbers<p>If you’re setting up a new phone system or even a VoIP service, one of the first things you will need to do is make a few test calls to verify functionality.</p> <p>While Telstra and Optus have had test numbers for years, many times these do not work from other carriers so a lot of the time you’ll end up making test calls to your mobile or even to random company IVRs. There are numerous test lines overseas, but it’s one thing that’s missing in Australia.</p> <p>For this reason I decided to setup a test phone number with a suite of tests including:</p> <ul> <li>Caller ID read back</li> <li>DTMF test</li> <li>Echo Test</li> <li>Milliwatt test tone ;and</li> <li>Music on Hold</li> </ul> <p>This number has been quite useful to me, and due to popular demand I’ve decided to make it public.</p> <p>If you’re in need of a telephone number, you can dial <strong>02 9192 0995</strong> (+61 2 9192 0995 from outside Australia).</p> <p>I’ve also created a few other numbers which are:</p> <ul> <li>02 9192 0967 - Lenny (telemarketer torture bot)</li> <li>02 9192 0969 - Sales Call Abyss (endless, awful, torturous Music on Hold)</li> <li>02 9192 0998 - Endless Music on Hold</li> </ul> <p>If you have any suggestions for improvement, <a href="/contact/">get in touch</a> or leave a comment below.</p> <h3 id="privacy-notice">Privacy Notice</h3> <p>All calls are logged into a database, but this is only because all calls in and out of the system are logged. The call logs may be used to monitor for abuse, but will not be used for any other purpose.</p>A while ago I created a test phone number that I use to test functionality when setting up a new phone system. I've made that public.Configuring DynamoDB VPC Endpoints with AWS CloudFormation2017-05-01T00:00:00+00:002017-05-01T00:00:00+00:00https://shaun.net/configuring-dynamodb-vpc-endpoints-aws-cloudformation<p>VPC Endpoints on Amazon Web Services (AWS) are a service that allows you to create a private connection between your VPC and a service that supports VPC endpoints without being required to traverse a NAT device, proxy server, or other similar service.</p> <p>Since their launch in May 2015, VPC endpoints have only been available for connectivity to Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) — their high performance object storage platform.</p> <p>Just a few weeks ago AWS announced that VPC Endpoints for DynamoDB are now available in <a href="https://pages.awscloud.com/VPCEndpointsPreview.html">public preview</a>. Of course I joined.</p> <p>All of the documentation for this feature indicates using the console to activate the endpoints, but as I build my environment exclusively with CloudFormation I wanted to see if it was possible to do it here.</p> <p>The answer is yes.</p> <p>To get started I created a DynamoDB endpoint resource in my CloudFormation template:</p> <div class="language-yaml highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code> <span class="na">DynamoDBEndpoint</span><span class="pi">:</span> <span class="na">Type</span><span class="pi">:</span> <span class="s2">"</span><span class="s">AWS::EC2::VPCEndpoint"</span> <span class="na">Properties</span><span class="pi">:</span> <span class="na">RouteTableIds</span><span class="pi">:</span> <span class="pi">-</span> <span class="kt">!Ref</span> <span class="s">PublicRouteTable</span> <span class="pi">-</span> <span class="kt">!Ref</span> <span class="s">Private0RouteTable</span> <span class="pi">-</span> <span class="kt">!Ref</span> <span class="s">Private1RouteTable</span> <span class="pi">-</span> <span class="kt">!Ref</span> <span class="s">Private2RouteTable</span> <span class="na">ServiceName</span><span class="pi">:</span> <span class="kt">!Sub</span> <span class="s2">"</span><span class="s">com.amazonaws.${AWS::Region}.dynamodb"</span> <span class="na">VpcId</span><span class="pi">:</span> <span class="kt">!Ref</span> <span class="s">VPC</span> </code></pre></div></div> <p>The following resources are defined elsewhere in the template, so adjust to suit your environment:</p> <ul> <li><strong>VPC</strong> - The VPC resource. You could set this to an existing VPC ID.</li> <li><strong>PublicRouteTable</strong> - my public route table.</li> <li><strong>Private(0/1/2)RouteTable</strong> - my private route tables. These will be updated with a route to the endpoint.</li> </ul> <p>Of course the primary benefit of a VPC endpoint is the ability to restrict what it can be used for. You could for example attach a policy document that only allows the endpoint to be used to access a specific DynamoDB table.</p> <p>For example, this resource with attached policy document would restrict access only to the table “arn:aws:dynamodb:ap-southeast-2:123412341234:table/test”:</p> <div class="language-yaml highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code> <span class="na">DynamoDBEndpoint</span><span class="pi">:</span> <span class="na">Type</span><span class="pi">:</span> <span class="s2">"</span><span class="s">AWS::EC2::VPCEndpoint"</span> <span class="na">Properties</span><span class="pi">:</span> <span class="na">RouteTableIds</span><span class="pi">:</span> <span class="pi">-</span> <span class="kt">!Ref</span> <span class="s">PublicRouteTable</span> <span class="pi">-</span> <span class="kt">!Ref</span> <span class="s">Private0RouteTable</span> <span class="pi">-</span> <span class="kt">!Ref</span> <span class="s">Private1RouteTable</span> <span class="pi">-</span> <span class="kt">!Ref</span> <span class="s">Private2RouteTable</span> <span class="na">ServiceName</span><span class="pi">:</span> <span class="kt">!Sub</span> <span class="s2">"</span><span class="s">com.amazonaws.${AWS::Region}.dynamodb"</span> <span class="na">VpcId</span><span class="pi">:</span> <span class="kt">!Ref</span> <span class="s">VPC</span> <span class="na">PolicyDocument</span><span class="pi">:</span> <span class="pi">{</span> <span class="s2">"</span><span class="s">Id"</span><span class="pi">:</span> <span class="s2">"</span><span class="s">Policy"</span><span class="pi">,</span> <span class="s2">"</span><span class="s">Version"</span><span class="pi">:</span> <span class="s2">"</span><span class="s">2012-10-17"</span><span class="pi">,</span> <span class="s2">"</span><span class="s">Statement"</span><span class="pi">:</span> <span class="pi">[</span> <span class="pi">{</span> <span class="s2">"</span><span class="s">Sid"</span><span class="pi">:</span> <span class="s2">"</span><span class="s">Statement"</span><span class="pi">,</span> <span class="s2">"</span><span class="s">Action"</span><span class="pi">:</span> <span class="s2">"</span><span class="s">dynamodb:*"</span><span class="pi">,</span> <span class="s2">"</span><span class="s">Effect"</span><span class="pi">:</span> <span class="s2">"</span><span class="s">Allow"</span><span class="pi">,</span> <span class="s2">"</span><span class="s">Resource"</span><span class="pi">:</span> <span class="s2">"</span><span class="s">arn:aws:dynamodb:ap-southeast-2:123412341234:table/test"</span><span class="pi">,</span> <span class="s2">"</span><span class="s">Principal"</span><span class="pi">:</span> <span class="s2">"</span><span class="s">*"</span> <span class="pi">}</span> <span class="pi">]</span> <span class="pi">}</span> </code></pre></div></div> <p>The <a href="https://awspolicygen.s3.amazonaws.com/policygen.html">AWS Policy Generator</a> is a useful tool that can be used to generate the policies that you need.</p> <p>With the CloudFormation template complete I executed the revised template, and the endpoint was created as expected.</p>In this post I look at creating a DynamoDB VPC endpoint with CloudFormation.Why site blocking doesn’t work2017-04-20T00:00:00+00:002017-04-20T00:00:00+00:00https://shaun.net/why-site-blocking-doesnt-work<p>Recently Village Roadshow commenced proceedings in the Australian Federal Court to block customers of some of Australia’s largest ISPs (including Telstra, Optus, TPG + subsidiaries, and others) from accessing a raft of sites associated with online piracy.</p> <p>The court ordered the ISPs to block access to these web sites using one or more of the following steps:</p> <ul> <li>DNS blocking by the target domain names.</li> <li>IP address blocking (or rerouting).</li> <li>URL blocking of the target domain URLs. ;or</li> <li>“any alternative technical means” (as agreed between the applicant and the respondent)</li> </ul> <p>Given how transient compute is today, IP address blocking simply isn’t a viable solution. IP addresses can be easily changed (and some of the proposed sites already change their IP regularly) - not to mention that some of the proposed sites use content delivery networks (CDNs) such as CloudFlare where blocking the IP addresses would result in other legitimate sites being blocked also.</p> <p>It’s not 1995 anymore and ISPs don’t generally run transparent proxy servers, so that removes the option to block based on URLs. Many of the sites are also using HTTPS and while it’s possible to extra the hostname from a request as this is sent in plain text during the certificate negotiation, the investment required to inspect every HTTPS request across a customer base would be substantial.</p> <p>Ignoring “any alternative technical means” this leaves us with the path of least resistance - DNS blocking. ISPs run their own DNS resolvers that clients would typically be configured to use by default and it’s trivial to configure these resolvers to return arbitrary responses for a given query.</p> <p>Customers on Internode for example would see the following page when accessing a blocked site:</p> <div class="mosaic-block fade"> <a href="/assets/img/postimages/2017/Screen-Shot-2017-04-20-at-5.43.52-pm.png" class="mosaic-overlay fancybox" data-fancybox-group="gallery" title=""></a> <div class="mosaic-backdrop"><img src="/assets/img/postimages/2017/Screen-Shot-2017-04-20-at-5.43.52-pm.png" alt="" /></div> </div> <p>If we look at the DNS request that’s being returned, Internode’s resolvers return <strong>202.136.99.185</strong> in response to any DNS lookup for a blocked domain:</p> <div class="highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>$ dig thepiratebay.se ; &lt;&lt;&gt;&gt; DiG 9.8.3-P1 &lt;&lt;&gt;&gt; thepiratebay.se ;; global options: +cmd ;; Got answer: ;; -&gt;&gt;HEADER&lt;&lt;- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 58446 ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0 ;; QUESTION SECTION: ;thepiratebay.se. IN A ;; ANSWER SECTION: thepiratebay.se. 14376 IN A 202.136.99.185 ;; Query time: 4 msec ;; SERVER: 172.26.0.2#53(172.26.0.2) ;; WHEN: Thu Apr 20 17:44:15 2017 ;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 49 </code></pre></div></div> <p>The IP address returns the disabled message for any request.</p> <p>I started digging and it appears that the TPG group of companies are using a common set of infrastructure to simply return a different message based on the IP, for example:</p> <div class="clearfix"> <div class="mosaic-block fade third"> <a href="/assets/img/postimages/2017/Screen-Shot-2017-04-20-at-6.25.42-pm.png" class="mosaic-overlay fancybox" data-fancybox-group="gallery" title="202.136.99.184 - TPG"></a> <div class="mosaic-backdrop"><img src="/assets/img/postimages/2017/Screen-Shot-2017-04-20-at-6.25.42-pm.png" alt="202.136.99.184 - TPG" /></div> </div> <div class="mosaic-block fade third"> <a href="/assets/img/postimages/2017/Screen-Shot-2017-04-20-at-6.26.31-pm.png" class="mosaic-overlay fancybox" data-fancybox-group="gallery" title="202.136.99.181 - iiNet"></a> <div class="mosaic-backdrop"><img src="/assets/img/postimages/2017/Screen-Shot-2017-04-20-at-6.26.31-pm.png" alt="202.136.99.181 - iiNet" /></div> </div> <div class="mosaic-block fade third last"> <a href="/assets/img/postimages/2017/Screen-Shot-2017-04-20-at-6.25.54-pm.png" class="mosaic-overlay fancybox" data-fancybox-group="gallery" title="202.136.99.186 - AAPT"></a> <div class="mosaic-backdrop"><img src="/assets/img/postimages/2017/Screen-Shot-2017-04-20-at-6.25.54-pm.png" alt="202.136.99.186 - AAPT" /></div> </div> </div> <p>So what happens if we change our DNS resolvers to something like Google DNS or OpenDNS?</p> <p>Simply changing the DNS resolvers on my computer meant that I immediately started seeing the real IP addresses of the site returned:</p> <div class="highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>$ dig thepiratebay.se ; &lt;&lt;&gt;&gt; DiG 9.8.3-P1 &lt;&lt;&gt;&gt; thepiratebay.se ;; global options: +cmd ;; Got answer: ;; -&gt;&gt;HEADER&lt;&lt;- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 3828 ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 2 ;; QUESTION SECTION: ;thepiratebay.se. IN A ;; ANSWER SECTION: thepiratebay.se. 300 IN A 104.31.16.3 thepiratebay.se. 300 IN A 104.31.17.3 ;; AUTHORITY SECTION: thepiratebay.se. 14249 IN NS dean.ns.cloudflare.com. thepiratebay.se. 14249 IN NS sofia.ns.cloudflare.com. ;; ADDITIONAL SECTION: dean.ns.cloudflare.com. 14249 IN A 173.245.59.153 sofia.ns.cloudflare.com. 14249 IN A 173.245.58.223 ;; Query time: 201 msec ;; SERVER: 8.8.8.8#53(8.8.8.8) ;; WHEN: Thu Apr 20 17:44:54 2017 ;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 153 </code></pre></div></div> <p>With that in mind I tried to connect again, and voila!</p> <div class="mosaic-block fade"> <a href="/assets/img/postimages/2017/Screen-Shot-2017-04-20-at-5.45.08-pm.png" class="mosaic-overlay fancybox" data-fancybox-group="gallery" title="It Works"></a> <div class="mosaic-backdrop"><img src="/assets/img/postimages/2017/Screen-Shot-2017-04-20-at-5.45.08-pm.png" alt="It Works" /></div> </div> <p>I would suggest that someone who is capable of setting up a torrent client along with the usually requisite port forwarding rules in that user’s router is certainly more than capable of getting around the site blocking in a manner of minutes by changing their DNS resolvers.</p> <p>If a user is already using DNS resolvers outside their ISP’s network, then they probably didn’t even notice that the “block” was in place — which really means that this whole exercise was simply a waste of everyone’s time and money.</p>Recently Village Roadshow commenced proceedings in the Australian Federal Court to block customers of some of Australia’s largest ISPs (including Telstra, Optus, TPG + subsidiaries, and others) from accessing a raft of sites associated with online piracy.Review: Heathrow Express2016-11-04T00:00:00+00:002016-11-04T00:00:00+00:00https://shaun.net/review-heathrow-express<p>Running every 15 minutes, the Heathrow Express is the fastest and certainly a most comfortable way to get from London’s Heathrow Airport into the city.</p> <p>Starting at T5 with a brief stop at the station serving terminals T1, T2, and T3, the trip to London’s Paddington Station takes approximately 15 minutes.</p> <p>From there it’s a quick tube ride to almost anywhere in downtown London.</p> <p>Tickets can be purchased onboard, or from the ticket machines upon arrival at the station with fares from £27 (AU$43) for Standard class and £30 (AU$48) for Business First. Discounts are available for both return tickets, and tickets purchased in advance.</p> <p>As I wasn’t organised enough to book tickets in advance, I paid the extra for Business First and was pleasantly surprised to see a large spacious carriage where each seat has its own table power socket.</p> <div class="mosaic-block fade"> <a href="/assets/img/postimages/2016/hex-1478260205043.jpg" class="mosaic-overlay fancybox" data-fancybox-group="gallery" title="Heathrow Express"></a> <div class="mosaic-backdrop"><img src="/assets/img/postimages/2016/hex-1478260205043.jpg" alt="Heathrow Express" /></div> </div> <p>There’s ample baggage storage within the carriage, and an assortment of complimentary magazines and newspapers available.</p> <p>While there’s free wifi available onboard, I suspect it’s cellular backed as I found it subject to the same mobile blackspots that I encountered on our mobile phone on the short journey into Paddington so unless you really need to use it I’d recommend relaxing with a book or gazing out the window and before you know it you will have arrived.</p> <p>Even though Heathrow Express makes Sydney’s airport train look cheap I still enjoyed the quick and efficient service and will definitely use it on future trips to London.</p>Running every 15 minutes, the Heathrow Express is the fastest and certainly a most comfortable way to get from London’s Heathrow Airport into the city.Qantas unveils the 787-900 Dreamliner2016-10-27T00:00:00+00:002016-10-27T00:00:00+00:00https://shaun.net/qantas-unveils-the-787-900-dreamliner<p>Qantas today unveiled details of the next aircraft to join its fleet — the Boeing 787-900 “Dreamliner” — set to join the fleet in October 2017.</p> <p>Customers flying in Business will experience the next generation of the popular Business Suite, as seen on all but two of the Airbus A330 fleet with each suite providing direct aisle access in a 1-2-1 configuration.</p> <p>Economy passengers will enjoy a new seat with a 32” pitch — 1” more than that on the Airbus A380 in a 3-3-3 configuration. While the seat will be equipped with a larger personal entertainment screen, each seat will also have a USB port allowing you to use (and keep charged) your own personal devices such as an iPad.</p> <p>Qantas is expected to announce details of the first routes flown by the 787-900 over the next few months with the first flights on sale before Christmas. Over time the aircraft will take over routes currently operated by the Boeing 747-400 fleet.</p> <p>As part of the launch, Qantas has unveiled a new livery and branding that will be gradually rolled out over time.</p> <p>You can watch the video below, or head to <a href="http://dreamliner.qantas.com">dreamliner.qantas.com</a> for more information.</p> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VCLM8PHAzNY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> <p>Having flown the Boeing 787-900 with another carrier on a long haul flight, I enjoyed the improved cabin comfort immensely and are looking forward to seeing the aircraft flying under the Qantas brand.</p> <p><em>Header image credit to Qantas.</em></p>Qantas today unveiled details of the next aircraft to join its fleet — the Boeing 787-900 “Dreamliner” — set to join the fleet in October 2017.Review: Shanghai Maglev Train2016-10-26T00:00:00+00:002016-10-26T00:00:00+00:00https://shaun.net/shanghai-maglev-train<p>The Shanghai Maglev train whisks passengers between the Pudong International Airport (PVG) and Longyang Road station in the outskirts of Central Pudong.</p> <p>A journey that would take at least 30 minutes by car (without traffic) takes only 7 minutes when travelling at up to 431km/hr, making the Maglev a fast and efficient service for getting between the airport and Pudong.</p> <p>On a recent trip I decided to try out the Maglev in VIP class.</p> <p>Fares for standard class start at 50 yuan (AU$9.62 at writing) for a single ticket or 80 yuan ($15.38) if returning within 7 days.</p> <p>VIP class which provides a separate boarding zone and more comfortable seating that’s separate from the main cabins is double the standard fare.</p> <p>Tickets can be purchased with cash or major credit cards – we used an American Express card with no problems.</p> <p>As I boarded at Pudong International Airport we was pleased to see a spacious and comfortable cabin. While not pictured, there was plenty of storage for luggage near the doors, and of course overhead luggage storage visible.</p> <p><img src="/assets/img/postimages/2016/maglev1-1477477577371.jpg" alt="" /></p> <p>Within a few minutes of departure the Maglev hit the top speed for the journey, 431km/hr. <img src="/assets/img/postimages/2016/maglev2-1477477624560.jpg" alt="" /></p> <p>For the return trip from Longyang Road, a VIP boarding zone is the place to wait for the Maglev. <img src="/assets/img/postimages/2016/maglev3-1477477683448.jpg" alt="" /></p> <p>Where I was also able to see the Maglev approaching. <img src="/assets/img/postimages/2016/maglev4-1477477706019.jpg" alt="" /></p> <p>Overall I was very pleased with the service. It was a comfortable way to travel, and the VIP cabin only had two other passengers in each direction.</p> <p>The Maglev terminated at the Longyang Road station which services lines 2, 7, and 16 on the Shanghai Metro. In our case, my destination was near Century Road and the Metro had me at the Dongchang Road station in about 10 minutes for the fare of 3 yuan each way (about AU$0.58).</p> <p>I’d definitely use this service again when next visiting Shanghai!</p>The Shanghai Maglev train whisks passengers between the Pudong International Airport (PVG) and Longyang Road station in the outskirts of Central Pudong.Uber scheduled rides now in Australia2016-09-15T00:00:00+00:002016-09-15T00:00:00+00:00https://shaun.net/uber-scheduled-rides-now-in-australia<p>In June I reported that Uber had <a href="/uber-launches-scheduled-rides/">launched schedule rides</a> but at the time it was only available in Seattle.</p> <p>As a regular user of Uber, one of the biggest downsides I’ve found is that you need to request a driver at the time you wish to travel. While it gives you the flexibility to change your schedule, sometimes when plans are set (eg: on those trips to and from the airport) it’d be nice to have to flexibility to know that a car will be waiting for you when you need it.</p> <p>Users in the following locations in Australia can now request an UberX between 15 minutes and 30 days in advance of travel:</p> <ul> <li><strong>Brisbane</strong> - Merthyr, New Farm, Newstead, and Teneriffe.</li> <li><strong>Melbourne</strong> - CBD and inner suburbs.</li> <li><strong>Perth</strong> - CBD, inner suburbs, and Fremantle.</li> <li><strong>Sydney</strong> - Eastern Suburbs and Inner West.</li> </ul> <h3 id="how-to-use-it">How to use it</h3> <p>As I have an upcoming business trip on Monday, I decided to see just how easy it was to schedule a ride.</p> <p>In the Uber app you’ll see Schedule a Ride as an option on the menu screen</p> <div class="clearfix"> <div class="mosaic-block fade half last"> <a href="/assets/img/postimages/2016/uber1-1473931250787.jpg" class="mosaic-overlay fancybox" data-fancybox-group="gallery" title=""></a> <div class="mosaic-backdrop"><img src="/assets/img/postimages/2016/uber1-1473931250787.jpg" alt="" /></div> </div> </div> <p>You’ll then be presented with a screen where you select the time, pickup address, destination, and payment method (if you’re using Uber for Business like we are, you’ll be able to select your business too).</p> <p>Enter the details, and click schedule. That’s it, you’ll be presented with a list of your upcoming bookings where you can easily edit or cancel the scheduled ride at no cost (anywhere up to 5 minutes after the car is dispatched).</p> <div class="clearfix"> <div class="mosaic-block fade half"> <a href="/assets/img/postimages/2016/uber3-1473931434357.jpg" class="mosaic-overlay fancybox" data-fancybox-group="gallery" title=""></a> <div class="mosaic-backdrop"><img src="/assets/img/postimages/2016/uber3-1473931434357.jpg" alt="" /></div> </div> <div class="mosaic-block fade half last"> <a href="/assets/img/postimages/2016/uber4-1473931440905.jpg" class="mosaic-overlay fancybox" data-fancybox-group="gallery" title=""></a> <div class="mosaic-backdrop"><img src="/assets/img/postimages/2016/uber4-1473931440905.jpg" alt="" /></div> </div> </div> <h3 id="mythoughts">My thoughts</h3> <p>I’m pleased to see this finally rolling out in Australia although I’d like to see it available on the premium Uber Black service too.</p> <p>I can’t help but feel that the service will simply submit a booking on your behalf at the pickup time as an automated process, rather than the rider having to request a car.</p> <p>It’s important to note that this doesn’t protect against surge pricing, so don’t go pre-booking your New Years Eve trips in the hope of avoiding the surge.</p> <p>If you don’t already have an Uber account, you can <a href="https://www.uber.com/invite/uberswewing">sign up</a> using promo code <strong>uberswewing</strong>. You’ll get $10 towards your first ride (and I’ll get $10 too).</p>In June I reported that Uber had launched schedule rides but at the time it was only available in Seattle.Virgin Australia completes rollout of ‘The Business’2016-08-31T00:00:00+00:002016-08-31T00:00:00+00:00https://shaun.net/virgin-australia-completes-rollout-of-the-business<p>Virgin Australia announced today that it has completed the rollout of their new business class experience ‘The Business’ across their entire widebody fleet of Airbus A330 and Boeing 777 aircraft.</p> <p>Passengers flying from Abu Dhabi to Sydney today were treated with the refreshed aircraft for the first time on this flight, albeit with a slight delay getting into the air:</p> <p><img src="https://assets.shaun.net/2016/08/va30-1472646052473.PNG" alt="" /></p> <p>With a 1-2-1 configuration offering direct aisle access from every seat, and an inflight bar on the 777, The Business is certainly a great leap forward from Virgin Australia’s previous and dated Business product on offer.</p> <p><img src="https://assets.shaun.net/2016/08/va_bar-1472646337320.jpg" alt="" /></p> <p>You can try the 777 product daily from Sydney and Brisbane to Los Angeles, and to Abu Dhabi three times per week.</p>Virgin Australia announced today that it has completed the rollout of their new business class experience ‘The Business’ across their entire widebody fleet of Airbus A330 and Boeing 777 aircraft.Aloft introduces voice activated hotel rooms2016-08-28T00:00:00+00:002016-08-28T00:00:00+00:00https://shaun.net/aloft-introduces-voice-activated-hotel-rooms<p>One of the features I love most about my home is the ability to control some of the automation systems using Siri.</p> <p>If I’m in bed and I’ve forgotten to turn the lights off, a quick voice command later and it’s done — no more getting out of bed and stumbling towards the light switch.</p> <p><img src="https://assets.shaun.net/2016/08/siri_lights-1472380817733.png" alt="" /></p> <p>Aloft, a brand of Starwood Hotels, has now rolled out this functionality to their Boston Seaport and Santa Clara locations.</p> <p>Using an iPad in each room you’re now able to control the lights and set the temperature to your liking — a feature we like a lot more than fiddling with a dated thermostat that can generally provide temperatures reminiscent of either the arctic or the tropics, with nothing in between.</p> <p>Of course I do hope that in doing this they haven’t neglected to fix one of my hotel pet peeves — power sockets by the bed.</p>One of the features I love most about my home is the ability to control some of the automation systems using Siri.Royal Caribbean completes rollout of the fastest Internet at sea2016-08-09T00:00:00+00:002016-08-09T00:00:00+00:00https://shaun.net/royal-caribbean-completes-rollout-of-the-fastest-internet-at-sea<p>Royal Caribbean have announced that their high speed Internet product “Voom” is now available across their entire fleet of 25 ships.</p> <p>Travellers who have cruised with Royal Caribbean in the past know that the previous connectivity onboard the ships transferred data at a glacial pace that was really only useful for checking emails, sending messages, and so on.</p> <p>Here’s a speedtest from my last cruise showing a download rate of 0.24Mbps, with an upload rate of 0.14Mbps.</p> <div class="clearfix"> <div class="mosaic-block fade half last"> <a href="https://assets.shaun.net/2016/08/rc_speedtest-1470735532868.png" class="mosaic-overlay fancybox" data-fancybox-group="gallery" title=""></a> <div class="mosaic-backdrop"><img src="https://assets.shaun.net/2016/08/rc_speedtest-1470735532868.png" alt="" /></div> </div> </div> <p>Voom seeks to change all that by providing connection speeds that claim to be what guests are used to on land - fast enough to stream Netflix, make VoIP calls, and more.</p> <p>The technology is made possible by O3b<em>Maritime</em> which uses steerable Satellite beams that track the ship on its course in real time.</p> <p><img src="https://assets.shaun.net/2016/08/Steerable_Beams-1470736757611.jpg" alt="" /></p> <p>I checked cruise planner for an upcoming cruise, and a variety of packages are available for purchase.</p> <p><img src="https://assets.shaun.net/2016/08/voom1-1470737664493.PNG" alt="" /></p> <p>There’s two service plans available:</p> <ul> <li>Voom Voyage: Basic Internet access for web browsing, social media, etc. but without streaming.</li> <li>Surf and Stream: Unlimited Internet access with streaming support.</li> </ul> <p>While Royal Caribbean doesn’t mention attainable download speeds, it would be safe to assume there is a difference between the two tiers.</p> <p>The pricing showing in the cruise planner for a cruise in December is:</p> <table> <tr><th></th><th>Voyage</th><th>Surf and Stream</th></tr> <tr><td>1 device</td><td>$12.09</td><td>$16.74</td></tr> <tr><td>2 devices</td><td>$22.33</td><td>$29.78</td></tr> <tr><td>3 devices</td><td>$30.70</td><td>$41.87</td></tr> <tr><td>4 devices</td><td>$37.20</td><td>$52.10</td></tr> <tr><td>5 devices</td><td>$41.86</td><td>$55.82</td></tr> </table> <p>These prices are in Australian dollars, and certainly seem reasonable considering the technology involved.</p> <p>It is worth noting that on Royal Caribbean the number of devices is counted as simultaneous logins. If you want to (for example) use both a phone and a tablet/laptop, you can purchase a single device plan as long as you are only using one at a time.</p> <p>I’ll be sure to post a follow-up during the upcoming cruise with my experience.</p>Royal Caribbean have announced that their high speed Internet product “Voom” is now available across their entire fleet of 25 ships.